Insects, especially cockroaches, are omnivorous insects. These insects typically infest locations that contain sufficient food, moisture and shelter for survival. Cockroaches forage for food randomly and will examine a food prior to ingesting it. If the food does not contain ingredients that stimulate feeding of the insect, the cockroach may continue to forage for appropriate food sources. An avoidance or lack of feeding on a bait containing poisonous material may reduce the effectiveness of the insecticide against cockroaches under field conditions. Therefore, the purpose of this invention is to formulate an insect bait, in particular a cockroach bait, that will be preferentially consumed in high quantities by cockroaches under both laboratory and field conditions.
Research has shown that German cockroaches, for example, cannot detect food from a large distance, that is, greater than five to ten inches. As a result, German cockroaches forage for food primarily along baseboards and behind appliances. As cockroaches encounter a bait station, the insect will examine the bait using this mouth parts and antennae. If the bait meets the cockroach nutritional needs, they may consume the bait. Cockroaches can learn to return to previously investigated food resources. Therefore, cockroach baits must be palatable enough to compete with other food sources in the environment to cause the insect to repeatedly visit the food resource and to ingest a lethal dose of toxicant applied thereto.